How are Belvedere Shoes Made and What Makes Them Special?

If you already wear Belvedere shoes or may be thinking of buying some Belvedere alligator shoes, it is always a good thing to know how they are made. Knowing how something is made always makes you appreciate them, that much more. The first moment you get your hands on a pair of Belvedere's, you immediately know that these shoes are special. The man who wears fine exotic leather skin shoes like crocodile shoes and alligator shoes that Belvedere is known for, needs to appreciate all of the steps that are taken in making a pair of Belvedere shoes. When you are a man who appreciates the finer things in life, you should also know what it takes to make them special. Unlike inferior shoes that you can get for under a hundred dollars you simply can't beat the quality, sleek Italian styling and comfortable fit that goes into every pair of Belvedere shoe made. Read our other blog post:

Are Belvedere Shoes Good: Exploring the Quality and Comfort

Are Belvedere Shoes made in the Italian Method?

The short answer is yes. Belvedere are made with the Italian method of shoe making. Lesser shoes are mass produced in huge factories with hundreds of factory workers and dozens of machines. You just won't find that in the facility where Belvedere dress shoes are made. It is a far simpler environment because most of the processes are done by hand. There are also far fewer people who have the required skills necessary to hand-make these shoes. Designer quality shoes like Belvedere feature superior construction processes that can't be found or used on inferior quality shoes. The time it takes to make these shoes is not cheap. Time is money. All of these processes make Belvedere's comfortable to wear.

One of the first things needed is the proper material for fine shoe making. Using only the very best leathers are what Italian shoes are known for as well as style. Fine exotic skin leather that is finely tanned and finished. The skins are not only handpicked but are checked for any type of flaw that may either make the shoes less durable or not live up to the quality potential that Belvedere's are famous for. The leather scales on say a pair of alligator shoes are closely matched as well. When you receive these shoes, you will see that the scale size will be the same on both the left and right shoe. This is very important. Imagine have a pair of shoes where the scale textures don't match.

You will only find fine leather used exclusively.

Buttery soft lambskin leather for the full leather interior of the shoes is the next item that all of these shoes possess. You will never ever find anything but fine glove quality leather inside a pair of these shoes coddling your feet. All fine shoes only have full leather linings. Lastly, properly tanned and cured shoe sole leather for providing not only the style of the shoes but also durability. If you are spending several hundred dollars on a pair of shoes, you at least want the shoe soles to able to last and give you proper traction while wearing them. Poorly tanned leather soles just won't last long. Belvedere shoe soles will last you several years of regular use before you will need to have your shoes re-soled.

One of the benefits of buying any pair of Belvedere's is that they are made to last. Since only expensive leathers are used inside and out, the quality thing becomes a factor. You can wear these shoes for several years until the soles wear out and then be able to get new soles put on them. On cheap shoes, this is simply not possible. For one thing, the interiors of cheap shoes will wear quickly since they are usually made with man-made material like cloth or vinyl and sometimes both. 

Cheap shoes are not designed to last. It's the opposite. They are designed to wear out quickly. You will be lucky if a pair of cheap shoes lasts a year with regular use. Cheap shoes also are not able to have new soles attached because everything is glued together. They are meant to be disposable. These shoes are made and designed to last a generation or more with proper care.

It all Starts with the Designer's Sketch.

A Belvedere Italian Shoe designer’s vision first originates from a new Italian shoe design when it first gets sketched out on a plastic sheet. To help the Belvedere shoe designer really make the shoe sketch come to life and make the designer perfect the shoe style, they put the sketch of the new shoe onto a shoe form which is called a Last. The Exotic skin leathers like crocodile skin and Alligator skin that Belvedere uses will have variations in either the scales or ribbing. An exotic skin leather specialist has to match up the texture of the leather.

You need years of experience to make Belvedere's.

They then carefully hand cut the leather to make sure that the right and left shoes match well. Next, a specialist uses a a special splitting machine to shave off a layer from the underside of the exotic leather to equalize the thickness of all the pieces of skin being used. The following process is for the veteran shoemaker to use a Skiving machine to make thin edges of the skin for better and smoother sewing. Depending on the style made, the shoemaker will poke decorative holes into the leather using a pressing machine. The following step is for the shoemaker to sew the individual pieces of exotic skin to create the upper part of the shoes. Then, he or she will gently hand hammer the stitch-work to make the seams lay flat giving a smoother appearance.

The next step is for the shoe maker to glue a leather strip along the border of the upper part of the shoe to hide the part of the leather's unfinished edge and provide a decorative trim for the shoes that are being made. A following step in making Belvedere shoes is to attach a lining made of supple lambskin leather and flax which is then fit over the last form. It allows for the most comfortable type of insole for the shoes. Let's face the facts here. Men who pay good money for a pair of luxury shoes are simply not going to put up with uncomfortable shoes the way most women do. That is why these shoes have the added measures done to them, to begin with, because in most minds who wear these fine shoes, the luxurious comfort and feel are what you are seeking to begin with. 

Men who recognize style and quality by Belvedere.

It's no different from spending big money on a luxury car and expecting to feel the most comfort imaginable while sitting and driving inside the car. That is the same philosophy that Belvedere employs when they work their magic with the linings and insoles of their fine handmade shoes. The whole point of wearing great shoes is that they feel great on your feet, and that is what you can always expect with these fine exotic skin shoes. It's an experience that no matter how hard I try to express into words, it simply has to be experienced in person. Then and only then is it truly understood what makes these shoes special.

The next step is to put the lining into the upper part of the shoes and slip them over the last that are being made. Next the insole of the Belvedere shoes being made has to be glued on. This allows the shoe sole to have a both rigid section and a flexible section to allow proper walking and comfort that is being made. Now the lining of the shoe needs to be glued onto the upper part or outside part of the shoes and put it into a machine at the front point of the toe of the shoes and pulls everything straight. Next, the shoe is put into another machine that has mechanical like fingers that pulls the entire upper front part of the shoes straight and glues it is making everything symmetrical. The following step is putting the shoe upper into another shoe making machine that does a similar feat for the back and heel part of the shoes being made.

Once this is done, it's time to grind and smooth down the bottom part where the hand carved sole is going to be sewn on. This is all intended to create a flat smooth surface for proper attachment. The next step, the experienced Belvedere shoemakers will heat up the leather of the upper carefully with a flame to make the leather flexible and hammer the upper part until it completely assumes the shape of the shoe last and side. This hammering process also gets rid of the unnecessary wrinkles or pleats that may have been there before. You won't find hand hammering done on inferior shoes. 

How many steps and hands to make these shoes?

On a pair of hand made shoes like Belvedere, there are many steps that take place to make them but usually only one or two shoe artisans ever touch each individual pair of shoes. Everything is done by machine with cheap shoes. After those steps are finished, the next step is to liberally apply the under part of the shoe with glue where the leather sole is going to be attached. This type of glue takes about ten minutes to set and attach the sole to the upper of the shoe. The gluing process ensures that the sole stays completely put when it's time to permanently stitch the upper part of the shoe to the sole. The next process is to insert the edge of the leather sole through a leather splitting machine to split a thin layer of the leather sole. This allows the shoemaker to sew the stiff leather sole to the upper part of the shoes using heavy duty twine. All of this is to make sure that the sole of the shoe will not come apart.

Then depending on which style of the Belvedere alligator shoes you choose, the stitching may or may not be visible on the sole. If, this is the case, this will allow the edge of the leather sole to be glued. Afterwards, the shoemaker will grind down the edge of the sole for a smooth and classy finish. On Mauri shoes, they only use this seam hiding process for a smooth appearance. It doesn't make the shoes last longer or wear better, it simply is for looks. It gives the shoe sole bottom a sleeker look. Once this is done, the newly attached leather sole is given a complete polish job to give it smooth and sometimes gloss finish. This is not unlike the glossy finish you would see on fine furniture. Afterwards, another Belvedere shoe specialist is given the shoes to give it a full polishing. 

More hands will coax the fine finish of the shoe.

The shoe artisan will use time tested special shoe creams and waxes depending on the finish that the shoe is trying to accomplish. This of course is to bring out subtle richness of the ostrich skin, lizard skin or crocodile skin. Some of their shoes make be designed for a shiny look, while another style may have an oilier leather look. It all depends on either the style of the shoe or the fashion of the time. This is the very last step in over two hundred individual steps that are used to make a pair of handcrafted Belvedere's. It's all of these countless steps that make a pair of Belvedere alligator shoes cost what they do.

In Conclusion.

It is no wonder that any pair of Belvedere shoes will cost you several hundred dollars. The combination of expensive exotic skin leathers combined with dozens of man hours by extremely skilled Italian shoemakers is what ensure that you get what you pay for. All of the intensive labor processes used, guarantee that these luxurious shoes are worth every penny you paid for them and more. True luxury items are almost always worth what they cost because that is what separates them from common goods. It is more than just a brand name that makes them exceptional. A brand name shoes becomes a brand name because it has developed something special which sets it above and beyond the masses. It is not just stamping a name that makes it special. It takes a reputation of quality and reliability to achieve brand name status. These shoes fit right into this category. Once you start wearing them, it becomes difficult to wear anything less. Why not spoil yourself with some of the finest made exotic